Should Dallas build its own jail? One county commissioner says yes

By Everton Bailey Jr.
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Website: https://www.dallasnews.com/

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price says Dallas should consider building its own jail, suggesting it could help lower the near-capacity county jail population.

Price told City Council members on Wednesday that space at the over 7,100-person capacity Lew Sterrett Justice Center remains an issue, and he believes the city isn’t paying enough to cover its costs. He said the sheriff’s office spends, on average, around $16 million a month to run.

The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved updating its contract with the county to pay almost $7.9 million annually to process and hold people arrested by police at the jail, a lower amount than in recent years including almost $8.6 million agreed to last year.

“You’ve got 49% of our population — which is 2.7 million — and you basically deposit about 40% of the individuals in that facility,” Price said. “When you look at that and you start talking about $8 million, you’re a little short.”

Political Points

He noted around 6,700 people are in jail and that Dallas County is trying to avoid following trends like those in Harris and Bexar counties, such as sending inmates to other facilities to alleviate overcrowding.

“I think you ought to build your own, and you wouldn’t have to worry about $8 million,” Price said to council members. He told The Dallas Morning News after the meeting that he believed Dallas should be paying “twice or triple that much, if we’re being honest.”

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The latest deal came two years after officials from both governments agreed to revamp how the county calculates its price to the city. The agreement ended a four-year dispute between the two sides, where the city at one point refused to pay the county for booking and holding people at the jail over complaints that their contract was outdated and the city was paying higher rates every year despite the number of people being detained decreasing most years.

Dallas has contracted with Dallas County since 1978 to process and hold people accused of crimes. The city estimates 18,000 people arrested by Dallas police are booked at the county jail annually.

The county jail in recent years has faced staff shortages, payroll issues and overtime spending. County leaders pointed to this during the summer as a large factor in the county’s $40 million budget shortfall. The county failed state jail inspections in 2021 and 2022 and has faced a recent state investigation of the county’s juvenile detention center found staff mistreated children held there.

Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said Wednesday that Dallas has no plans to build its own jail to hold every person arrested by the police department. The latest county jail deal reflects terms negotiated and agreed to by city and county officials, she said.

“This is a contract that we’ve been working on and what we believe is in our best interest going forward,” Tolbert said.

The conversation led to council members calling for one of their committees to review other deals the city has with the county and other groups to determine how much Dallas is getting in return for its spending.

“If we can get ahead of it and have a conversation about what the contribution is versus what’s received, that might point us to a direction on whether Dallas does need to invest in our own jail,” council member Gay Donnell Willis said.

Dallas has a city detention center overseen by the Marshal’s Office that can temporarily hold 138 people. The facility is dedicated to holding people arrested on suspicion of public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and other Class C misdemeanor charges or warrants. Those types of crimes are typically punishable with fines up to $500.

The city detention center has a budget of close to $2.1 million, which will rise to $2.2 million when the new fiscal year starts in October.

Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown told council members the county jail doesn’t detain people accused solely of Class C misdemeanors and doesn’t immediately accept people in need of medical attention.

The county is considering building a replacement for its 40-year-old jail.

A county advisory committee in April recommended spending an estimated $5.3 billion for a new criminal justice complex that would include $2.8 billion for a 7,200-bed jail and $1.6 billion for a courthouse. That recommendation suggested construction on the complex be done by 2034.

Another option to lessen overcrowding could be reopening the downtown George Allen jail, which the county closed in 2009 amid safety issues and budget cuts. Price estimated the jail has 800 beds, and that the county would need around $30 million to reopen the facility.

This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.